Capping-machine.



GQKIRKEGAARD.

GA PPING MACHINE. APPLIUATION FILED MAY a, 1908.

Patented May 25, 1909.

UNITED stares PATENT OFFICE.

' 'urEORG KIRKEGAARD, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO IMPERIAL-$TOPPER COMPANY, A

CORPORATION OF MAINE.

CAPPING-MAQHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented May 25, 1909.

Serial No. 431,148.

Application filed May 6, 190B.

tomatically returning the table to its normal level after the bottle has been removed.

ln the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a capping machine provided with my improvements; and Fig. 2 is a vertical central section of that portion of the machine including the bottle table and To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORG KIRKEGAARD, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of New York, in the borough of Brooklyn and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in- Capping-Machines, of which the following is forced downward for a certain I shelf upon is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to machines for applying caps or stoppers to bottles.

The particular kind of stopper which the machine is adapted to operate upon prises a nieta-l cap having a packing disk inside thereof and having a depending flange which is adapted to be forced into locking engagement with an annular shoulder on the exterior of the bottle to hold the cap thereon with the packing disk under compression against the mouth of the bottle. the crudity with which bottles are manufactured. it is found that they often vary in size. some being of less diameter at the mouth than the normal, while others are of greater diameter. It is also found that the bottles vary in length considerably, and it is this latter variation that niy present invention has to deal with. In capping machines, it is customary to place the bottle upon a table orshelf where it rests while the cap is being applied bymcans of a plunger which lengthof stroke. If the bottle is longer'than usual, an extraordinary pressure will be exerted upon it, unless some means of compensating for the extra pressure is provided.

The object of my invention is to do this and it. consists in supporting the table or a vertical screw, which passes through a nut which is free to rotate in case the screw is forced through it with sufficient power, while the screw is prevented from rotating. Thus. by arranging the pitch of the screw so that the amount of friction required to be overcome between the screw and the nut before the latter will turn, will balance the downward force which is applied by the machine to a bottle of normal length, the table will be unyielding, unless a abnormallength is encountered, when the pressure upon the table will overcome the friction bct-wcen'the screw and the nut, and the latter will rotate and permit the table to retreat, thus preventing breakage of the bottle.

My invention also includes means for ancom- Owing to bottle of its support.

Referring to the drawings by reference numerals, 1 indicates a standard or frame of the machine; 2 the capping which is caused to reciprocate through strokes of definite length by application of power through the pulley 3.

4 is a table or shelf upon which the bottle is placed to be acted upon by the machine. This table is supported upon a vertical spindle 5, provided with a screw thread 6. The spindle is arrangedvertically in suitable passages formed in two brackets T and 8 carried by the main frame of the machine, the spindlehaving a spline t), or equivalent means permitting of its vertical movement, but preventing rotary movement. Confined between the two brackets T and 8 is a nut l0 throug1 which passes. the 'threaded spindle, threads of thc'spindle engaging those in the nut. The nutis mounted upon ball bearings 11.,so as toturn with the least possible frictio'n, except that which is especially provided for; it cannot move longitudinally with the spindle.- The nut is also formed with a cylindrical exterior surface bounded by flanges 12 forming a drum around which a cord 13 is wound. This cord leads from the drum or out over the guide pulley 14, and then is attached to and holds in suspension, a weight 15, which moves vertically in the hollow frame of the machine. A downward movement of the spindle 5 tends to rotate the nut in a direction to wind up the cord and raise the weight, and the downward movement of the weight tends to rotate the nut in a direction to raise the spindle.

The operationjs as follows: The pitch of the screw (3 is predetermined in proportion to the downward thrust which is exerted againstthe table by the capping head when applying a stopper to the bottle; the stee )er the screw, the less will be-the friction etwcen the screw and the nut. 'When pressure is applied downward upon the screw, the nut will be caused to rotate only when this friction is overcome. Accord1ngly,a pitch is selected which willprcvent rotation of the 1'} 1 head or (118 applied when a bottle of normal length is acted upon, but which will cause the nut to rotate when that normal pressure is exceeded. Thus, when a bottle of abnormal length is acted upon, the extraordinary pressure upon it willbe compensated for by the retreat downward of the table, the nut thereby being caused to rotate and allowing thescrew to move downward without turning. As soon as the bottle has been capped and removed from the "machine, the weight 15 rotates the nut in the op osite direction, comparatively little power being required to do this, and the table is lifted to its normal level which is determined by alimiting collar 16 fixed upon the lower end of the screw and striking the bracket 8.

WhatI claim, is: I

1. In a bottle capping machine, a table upon which the bottle rests while being capped, a screw threaded spindle supporting sald table and adapted to move longitudinally but not rotarily, and a nut through which said spindle works and whichis free to rotate, said spindle having a steep thread adapted to cause the rotation of the nut when the table is depressed, substantially as-described.

2. In a bottle capping machine, a table upon which the bottle rests while beingcapped, a screw threaded spindle su" porting said table and having a longitudina but not a rotary movement, a nut in which the spin dle works and which is prevented from partaking ofthe longitudinal movement ofthe spindle, said spindle and nut having a steep thread whereby the nut is rotated by an .ab-v

normal tendency of the f spindle to move through it.

3. In a bottle ca ping machine, atable upon which the bott e rests while being acted upon, a screw threaded spindle su porting said table and having a longitudinaFbut not a rotary movement, a nut through which said spindle works and which has a' rotary movement but no longitudinal movement with the spindle, anda cord wound around said nut suspending a weight, and a stop for limiting the longitudinal movement of the spindle in one direction.

In testimony whereof, I subscribe my signature, in the presence of two witnesses.

GEORG KIRKEGAARD.

Witnesses \VALno M. Cnnrm, JAMES I) Ax'rox Io. 

